KönigenvskündigenWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Königen is a noun, kündigen is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Königen” is a noun and “kündigen” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,819
“Königen” frequency rank
#7,639
“kündigen” frequency rank
35458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Königen kündigen
Definition Dativ Plural des Substantivs König einen Vertrag/eine Vertragsbeziehung einseitig beenden

Where the eye mixes Königen and kündigen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Königen runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against kündigen's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Königen
8 ch
kündigen

Visual trap between Königen and kündigen

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Königen is [ˈkøːnɪɡn̩] while kündigen is [ˈkʏndɪɡn̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Königen is recorded at frequency rank #27,819, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkøːnɪɡn̩]. kündigen is at rank #7,639, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkʏndɪɡn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 35458, this pair ranks #1,639,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Königen vs kündigen

Shared letters: egikn. Private to "Königen": ö. Private to "kündigen": dü.

"Königen" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "kündigen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Königen" and "kündigen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Königen" is a noun and "kündigen" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Königen" or "kündigen"?
"kündigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,639 in our German list, against #27,819 for "Königen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Königen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kündigen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,639,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Königen" and "kündigen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kündigen vs kündigten". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,639,493 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list